Coming Soon: Halal Guys, Sababa, and Sam Wo's New Location

The combo rice bowl from Halal Guys in New York. Yelp photo by Danny L.

Eater reports that New York City’s famed ~HALAL GUYS~ are expanding to the West Coast, including San Francisco and the East Bay. Apparently the expansion includes two more shops in New York, as many as 50 in Southern California, and eventually 30 in the Bay Area and Las Vegas. To start, they’re planning to open one spot in Berkeley and another in San Francisco, then go from there. The current schedule is to open in February 2016, with more expansions coming after that. They haven’t nailed down exact locations yet, but word is they are actively shopping for spaces.

It looks like the folks behind AQ and TBD are getting ready to open a fast-casual falafel restaurant called ~SABABA~. Eater reports that the new spot comes from AQ cook Guy Eshel, who not only trained at the CIA but also hails from Israel, along with Matt Semmelhack. The plan is to offer a limited menu of protein choices like falafel, eggplant and egg, chicken, and beef, available on a pita or in a salad bowl. Then, you’ll be able to customize from a selection of mezze and a toppings bar with pickles and sauces. They haven’t secured a location yet, but the plan is to be downtown. To test everything out, Eshel will be popping up at Deli Board every Monday in March from 6pm-9pm.

Some unofficial news on the ~SAM WO~ front about where it’s going to be reopening: according to this post on Chowhound, it’s going to be reopening in the Anna Bakery space in Chinatown. (Here’s our recap on why they aren’t reopening in their fabled space at 813 Washington.) We reached out to one of the owners, Julie Ho, who couldn’t comment at this time, so we’ll keep an eye on this one. Noodle rolls are imminent. 715 Clay St. at Kearny.